The Technologists

A Novel

By: Matthew Pearl

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

The first class at M.I.T. The last hope for a city in peril.

The acclaimed author of The Dante Club reinvigorates the historical thriller. Matthew Pearl’s spellbinding new novel transports readers to tumultuous nineteenth-century Boston, where the word “technology” represents a bold and frightening new concept. The fight for the future will hinge on....

The Technologists.

Boston, 1868. The Civil War may be over but a new war has begun, one between the past and the present, tradition and technology. On a former marshy wasteland, the daring Massachusetts Institute of Technology is rising, its mission to harness science for the benefit of all and to open the doors of opportunity to everyone of merit. But in Boston Harbor a fiery cataclysm throws commerce into chaos, as ships’ instruments spin inexplicably out of control. Soon after, another mysterious catastrophe devastates the heart of the city. Is it sabotage by scientific means or Nature revolting against man’s attempt to control it?

The shocking disasters cast a pall over M.I.T. and provoke assaults from all sides - rival Harvard, labor unions, and a sensationalistic press. With their first graduation and the very survival of their groundbreaking college now in doubt, a band of the Institute’s best and brightest students secretly come together to save innocent lives and track down the truth, armed with ingenuity and their unique scientific training.

Led by “charity scholar” Marcus Mansfield, a quiet Civil War veteran and one-time machinist struggling to find his footing in rarefied Boston society, the group is rounded out by irrepressible Robert Richards, the bluest of Beacon Hill bluebloods; Edwin Hoyt, class genius; and brilliant freshman Ellen Swallow, the Institute’s lone, ostracized female student. Working against their small secret society, from within and without, are the arrayed forces of a stratified culture determined to resist change at all costs and a dark mastermind bent on the utter destruction of the city.

Studded with suspense and soaked in the rich historical atmosphere for which its author is renowned, The Technologists is a dazzling journey into a dangerous world not so very far from our own, as the America we know today begins to shimmer into being.

©2012 Matthew Pearl (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“ The Technologists combines everything I love in a thriller: fascinating history, science, and a frightening mystery that demands to be solved. Matthew Pearl is one of my must-read authors. He never fails to intrigue and thrill!” (Tess Gerritsen, author of The Silent Girl)

“Fascinating, mesmerizing, and richly atmospheric, The Technologists is the best yet from a true master of the historical thriller. I loved this novel.” (Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Buried Secrets and Vanished)

“Pearl’s signature complex plotting, strewn with red herrings and populated with unlikely villains, leaves readers as shocked and intrigued as the Bostonians.... Pearl’s first three novels - The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, and The Last Dickens - were all New York Times bestsellers. His latest, another literary-historical thriller, seems certain to join the elite club.” ( Booklist)

Good story

I enjoyed the story and the history it portrays. The narration uses a fairly passive voice throughout, for all characters, which detracts from the story.

I really wanted to like this book but......

Would you listen to The Technologists again? Why?

No I would not read again. But I did recommed it to friends who attend or work at MIT.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Technologists?

I like the story of the first woman student at MIT. The fact that she could not attend classes and was confind to a basement lab was facinating.

Have you listened to any of Stephen Hoye???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, he is very good

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

way too long for that!

Any additional comments?

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I live in Boston and have many friends that have attended MIT. I felt that this book was written to become a movie. It was a bit too fantasitc and contrived. I did like the historic bits about Boston and Cambridge and respect the research that Matthew Pearl puts into his books. I liked the Poe Shadow bettet than this one. Not a bad read but just a bit too much drama for me.

Kudos to Pearl

Wow! What a read! I found it hard to walk away. Loved it! Makes me want to look into MIT's real history.

Nothing to Grasp

For some reason, I could not get into this book. I need to reread it down the road, but none of the characters caught my attention. They all seemed like wallpaper to decorating up a dark room, but fail to remember their roles in the story. I think if the story was more modern, it would been a better read, but for what it is, I couldn't grasp anything from the plot. It was just okay. Seems dated.

Nice concept but over done and boring

Would you try another book from Matthew Pearl and/or Stephen Hoye?

Stephen Hoye's narration was excellent but the material itself was way too lengthy and became boring. I would be cautious before picking up another Matthew Pearl book.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm still interested in techno thrillers and action based history novels.

What about Stephen Hoye’s performance did you like?

Realistically tried to personify the characters without over playing it. I did appreciate the changes in character being reflected in his voice but he did not go overboard.

Any additional comments?

Way too long to build up the story. Plot was predictable and juvenile (at times). I gave up about 2/3s the way though. Tired of hearing the back story and minor character development. Motivations of the characters was too simplistic.

Relatively Simplistic Story.

What would have made The Technologists better?

Storyline was not very believable. I could not get myself to really believe the plot.

Would you ever listen to anything by Matthew Pearl again?

I would give him a second chance if other reviews were very positive.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

Mediocre - Can't Recommend It

This is a strange story, told in the archaic lingo of the 1860s. Strange? Uh-huh. It's a historic invention, truly historic fiction, about science and particularly the founding of MIT. Pearl's a Harvard grad, yet there's a lot of Harvard hating here. Hmmmm...

The author has a powerful ability to create serial tensions. But they begin to feel like the kind that were once built into Saturday matinee cowboy serials where each week ended with some new peril facing the heroes. Do they still do that? Or has the compulsion for immediate gratification made them go away. Oh yeah... "24" the TV series did that.

Here though they become contrived and I began to mutter about another plot distraction. Instead of speeding things, they slowed them. Pearl does a credible job of allowing cultures to smash into one another particularly at that transformational moment in history as old orders were about to die...

In spite of that potential, the whole thing just feels, well, old-fashioned as Lawrence Welk on PBS. And Stephen Hoye is almost monotonic. Nope, can't recommend this thing, even though I'll probably remember it, not unpleasantly.

So boring

Any additional comments?

So boring, if you want an inventory of inventions, this is the book. Put it down 1/2 way through, could not stand the repetition of going nowhere in the plot. I have read other Pearl stories, and enjoyed them, but this one does not do justice to what he is capable of.